Cory Oppold never imagined he’d grow up to be a chef, let alone one being showered with awards. Not only was the profession not on his radar, but he was a self-professed “meat and potatoes type,” he’d never worked in a restaurant, and he thought his dream career was in architecture.
“I was a dairy farm boy from Illinois and grew up there very meat and potatoes,” he says. “I moved out here in 1998 for architecture.”
But as often happens in life, experiences changed his entire trajectory.
The Moment
“When I moved out here, I ate at a restaurant and realized how complex food could be—and that’s when I began pivoting to culinary,” he says.
In fact, Oppold remembers the exact moment it happened.
“It was probably in 2000,” he shares. “I was eating at Wright’s at the Biltmore, and I ate this very artistically plated, very delicious halibut dish. I had never had anything like it before.”
Oppold’s curiosity was sparked, and he decided to enroll in the Scottsdale Culinary Institute.
He graduated with honors.
From there, Oppold—who recently added Top Chef and Emerging Restaurant of the Year (for his restaurant Course) awards from the 2024 AZ Restaurant Association Foodist Awards to his growing list of honors—built a resume that included roles at fine-dining restaurants Different Pointe of View, L’Auberge de Sedona, Binkley’s, Tarbell’s, and Atlas Bistro.
He also began teaching at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
Developing His Style of Food
“That’s when I actually developed my style of food,” Oppold says. “Teaching made me research food much more and I found more of my style—making multiple simple items on a dish and together they become complex.”
A few years ago, Oppold left the restaurant scene and was concentrating on in-home, private chef dinners.
The move would prove fortuitous, as again, life intervened.
At one of the dinners, he met the people who would become his partners at his now-locale Course Restaurant. And, creating the multiple courses for those dinners is what inspired the concept of the restaurant.
Opening Course
In May 2023, Oppold opened Course at the corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard. The intimate space seats 27 indoors and 38 to 42 on the patio. The size allows Oppold—whose team also includes a sous chef, pastry chef, and four line staff—to manage the unique dining experience.
“Making it smaller made sense for the style of food that we do,” he says.
As the name suggests, Course offers a set prix fixe menu that comprises a specific number of courses. The main menu features 10 courses, while a shortened five-course menu is available certain days during certain times of the year. The first two Sundays of each month showcase themed pop-up dining experiences, followed by the Morning Would brunch experience on the remaining Sundays.
The menus change during different seasons, with the new fall menu offering reimagined classics, including a playful yet sophisticated doughnut topped with caviar, crème fraîche, and chive; a comforting and nostalgic "Fish & Chips," where sturgeon is paired with potato, smoked brook trout roe, sea bean, and a house-made "tartar sauce;" and a succulent Linz beef strip loin that’s accompanied by oxtail, croquette, broccoli, and baby leek.
Being Creative
For Oppold, there’s a draw to the creative aspects of menu creation.
“Every year, there are the same four seasons,” he explains regarding his seasonal menu changes. “It’s typically the same ingredients, but we try to introduce new foods, and we constantly try to teach ourselves new techniques, flavor combinations, etc. But most appealing is the creative process of it all.”
When asked about his favorite ingredient to us, Oppold doesn’t hesitate.
“Salt,” he says. “It’s always my main ingredient. Then an acid, like citrus or vinegar. How you use it can brighten any kind of dish or change it completely.”
Memorable Experiences
No matter the ingredient, he is always just hoping to be creative and create a unique and memorable experience for his guests.
“We just continue to try to push as much as we can and come up with more unique and more pleasurable dining experiences for guests. Course is an experience,” Oppold says. “We definitely take care of [the guests]. It has to be adventurous for them—and adventurous for us, too. We try to make it fun for us first and then that trickles down to the guest.”
When Oppold isn’t at the restaurant, he’s often spending time with his family, watching movies, and, when it’s nice out, enjoying the outdoors.
“I also love holidays,” he says. “Like Christmas—that I’m obsessed with. I even do a themed December Christmas menu.”
You can bet it’s amazing, of course.